I& #39;ve laid the Scot Gov& #39;s Budget revision, showing investment of £4bn in responding to Covid. That includes £620m for the NHS, £2.3bn in business funding and £350m community support. We& #39;ve responded quickly, and our financial support exceeds the UK Gov funding we& #39;ve received. /1

Total received from the UK Gov is £3.5bn-its v welcome. Risk is that UK Gov funding is still estimates, as we discovered this week as £70m that had been promised by UK Gov was withdrawn. We& #39;d already passed that funding on to businesses & charities, but now we won& #39;t receive it /2

That kind of uncertainty, of funding promised and then withdrawn, makes it v difficult to budget when the Scot Gov doesn& #39;t have the tools to manage uncertainty. We don& #39;t have powers to borrow revenue to meet shortfalls and don& #39;t get guarantees on Barnett consequentials. /3

Two choices-either UK G needs to guarantee sufficient funding to cover the costs or give us the fiscal tools to manage uncertainty. The first might be hard-but the second isn& #39;t. Most Govs in the world are battling Covid with fiscal powers and flexibilities that we don& #39;t have. /4

Every year, the Scot Gov balances its budget-we are not allowed, by law, to overspend. There are many demands just now, including more support for business. I& #39;m v sympathetic, but unless we get powers to create headroom or UK G passes on more funding, it will be challenging. /5

Lastly, I leave you with impressive proposals like this - backed by a former permanent secretary to three UK chancellors. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/radical-proposal-for-scotland-to-borrow-extra-billions-5mtmp3chg">https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r... /6